Romantics During American Literature

Example

Mr. Romens

American Literature, Blue 2

9 December 2015

Romantics during American Literature

        Many might think that the years after the Civil War were used to grieve and that it was a time of healing and rebuilding; however, this period after the war was filled with commotion for authors trying to define who they were and why they were writing. A literary battle emerged during this time where the romantics, realists, and naturalists would compete for which genre was the best. From this feud appeared a romantic writer, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow wanted to create a successful authorial career, by connecting American poetry with European traditions. Longfellow wanted to achieve and develop a wide readership for romantic poetry.

        Longfellow is a romanticist and is one of the greatest fireside poet. The way the he appreciates life and its' surroundings in his poem, "Sundown",  is a characteristic of a romantic poet. "Sundown" is entirely about the appreciation the writer has for the environment itself. Unlike other authors, such as Puritan writing, romantic writers stop and admire the world around them. Romantics stop and studies a flowers' petals and the physiology of it, unlike the initial Puritan writings of America uses the Bible for a backbone in their text. Puritans do not stop to look at scenery, but when they do, they look for symbols around them they think is sent from God.  

"Sundown" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a symbolic poem that poem paints vibrant, clear pictures: "The summer sun is sinking low;/ Only the tree-tops redden and glow:/ On the road of life one mile-stone more!/ On the good and the evil have done,--/ Naught can to-day restore"(1-15). In the poem, the audience can recognize the scenery Longfellow is depicting and he shows his reader meaningful events but quickly slips away as he writes that tomorrow will bring us a new opportunity. Longfellow connects with his readers by using natural surroundings as his inspiration: "summer sun/ tree-tops/ weathercock/ church"(1-4). Because Longfellow uses basic surroundings, the audience can relate to what he is seeing. This way, the readers can interpret Longfellow's poems more clearly than a writer who does not use natural resources. Romantic authors are optimistic and allows their readers to view and understand life through simplicity. 

        Longfellow's writing is enhanced by his use of rhyme scheme. In "Sundown" he uses end rhyme such as "low/ glow/ spire/ fire/ day/ away/ hate/ desolate/ more/ o'er/ sun/ done"(1-14). The rhymes enhances his writing because the words create emphasis when read. Also, alliteration is clear in his writing when he uses "summer sun/ the tree-tops"(1-2). Longfellow uses figurative language which include hyperbole or exaggeration to employ comparison. The writer uses figurative language in "Sundown" by comparing "The summer sun is sinking/ the neighboring church is a flame of fire"(1-4). Evidently, the sun is not sinking but is setting into the horizon and creating a beautiful array of colors in the sky and on buildings. As the sun is creating these colors, the church that is a "flame of fire" does not mean that the building is aflame but is burning with the summer sunlight.